Consultant Occupational Therapists in the United Kingdom

Transcription

1 Consultant Occupational Therapists in the United Kingdom Jamie McDermott Department of Psychology and Allied Health Sciences School of Health and Life Sciences

2 Session aims In this session I hope to: 1. Provide an overview of GCU and the programmes that we deliver 2. To outline the development of the Consultant Occupational Therapist role in the United Kingdom 3. To share with you four case studies of practicing Consultant Occupational Therapists in Scotland 4. To encourage you to think about your future career plans and goals and how you might achieve them page 2

3 GCU 17,500 students from over 100 countries study in Glasgow Campuses in Glasgow, London, Oman and in New York Over 400 courses available Three large schools: School of Health and Life Sciences Glasgow School for Business and Society School of Engineering and Built Environment page 3

4 School of Health and Life Sciences page 4

5 School of Health and Life Sciences Established in 2011 following the merger of two smaller Schools Brings together Allied Health, Nursing and Social Care disciplines together with Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Psychology and Vision Sciences The school is the largest provider of health care and life science education in Scotland Structured around three departments: Department of Psychology and Allied Health Sciences Department of Health and Community Sciences Department of Life Sciences page 5

6 Occupational Therapy Subject Area BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy Four-year pre-registration programme MSc (Pre-registration) Occupational Therapy Two-year pre-registration programme Post-registration (MSc/Prof. Doc./PhD) page 6

7 Hello from Glasgow! page 7

8 Consultant occupational therapists in the United Kingdom

9 Background The UK has 33,612 Registered Occupational Therapists Prior to the year 2000, clinical career progression for Occupational Therapists was limited To progress their careers, occupational therapists would often leave clinical practice and move into management, education or research roles There was no incentive for highly skilled clinical staff to remain in a client-facing role page 9 Occupational Therapist Senior Occupational Therapist Head Occupational Therapist

10 Why modernise the career structure? To create a more flexible and competent workforce To update career pathways and choices for professionals To better prepare professionals to take on clinical leadership roles To recognise advanced practice and extended roles being adopted in the clinical environment page 10

11 Implementation of Consultant roles Consultant posts were launched as a policy decision by the UK government in 1999, making it possible for Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals (including Occupational Therapists) to become Consultants The aims was to retain experienced and highly skilled practitioners in practice settings These new posts created a similar structure to that of the medical profession and provided the same level of autonomy for both medical and nonmedical Consultants page 11

12 Implementation of Consultant roles Implementation of the policy was delayed by political devolution in the UK Responsibility for Health was devolved with each of the four UK nations assuming full territorial responsibility Political divergence continues to influence the NHS - each UK nation is becoming increasingly distinctive in their approach to health First Consultant Occupational Therapist was appointed in 2004 in the area of stroke rehabilitation page 12

13 Implementation of Consultant roles The policy has been most successful in Nursing over 1000 in post. Evidence of their impact is limited possibly due to methodological weakness of the limited research available In the UK we have around 30 Consultant Occupational Therapists (half of which are in Scotland) What lessons can the occupational therapy profession learn? page 13

14 Principles underpinning the creation of Consultant roles Consultants will: Contribute to better outcomes for patients, carers, families and communities Improve patient pathways and service delivery through influence and innovation at a strategic level Exercise advanced levels of clinical judgement, knowledge and experience Participate in, and influence, practice and service decisionmaking at NHS Board, regional and national level page 14v

15 Consultant posts should be structured around five key themes Practice and service development Professional leadership and consultancy Expert clinical practice Research, audit and evaluation Education, training and development page 15

16 Qualifications and expertise of appointees to Consultant roles Post holders must have: Extensive clinical experience Strategic awareness Career-long learning and development An active engagement with research and evaluation Formal education links with an educational institution Post holders must have a Doctoral qualification or a Masters qualification and be in pursuit of a Doctorate. page 16

17 The NHS career framework More Senior Staff 9 Consultant Practitioners 8 Advanced Practitioners 7 Senior Practitioners 6 Practitioners 5 Assistant Practitioners 4 Senior Assistants/Technicians 3 Support Workers 2 Initial Entry Level Jobs 1 page 17

18 page 18 Therese Jackson Consultant Occupational Therapist in Stroke

19 page 19 Therese Jackson Consultant Occupational Therapist in Stroke

20 Dr Jenny Preston Consultant Occupational Therapist in Neurological Rehabilitation page 20

21 Jean McQueen Consultant Occupational Therapist in Forensic Mental Health page 21

22 Elaine Hunter Consultant Occupational Therapist in Dementia page 22

23 I want to be a Consultant, how do I get there? page 23

24 NHS Education for Scotland

25 Identify your career aspirations Identify your development needs based on the career framework Be bold! page 25

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27 Web-based learning programme for Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals Designed to be completed within the first year in practice Learner directed Provides a supportive, guiding learning environment Most successfully undertaken with the support of a mentor Easily followed with downloadable learner guides and useful web links Open to all healthcare settings for NMAHPs

28 The Learning Programme 10 Learning Units make up the development programme Each has an aim and learning outcomes Each sub-section contains learning activities All activities linked to NHS career framework

29 Making it work together

30 Other initiatives Early clinical career fellowships Effective practitioner programme Senior professional education and development programme Leading better practice page 30

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32 My current research Is concerned with understanding and explaining what Consultant Occupational Therapists actually do in their day-to-day practice Is initially focussed on Consultants in Scotland Driven by two key questions: What is the main concern of Consultant Occupational Therapists in their day-to-day practice? How is this concern resolved? The research product will be a conceptual theory that explains this concern and how it is resolved page 32

33 Thank you for your participation! page 33